1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the technique of controlling the cutting position of a boarding pass on a printer device for issuing an aircraft boarding pass.
2. Description of the Related Art
A printer specifically for issuing a boarding pass and a ticket, and a printer specifically for printing a baggage tag are used in the airline industry. In the industry, there has been a request to print a boarding pass and a ticket on a printer specifically for printing a baggage tag with a view to attaining higher efficiency and realizing cost reduction, and the practical operation of the printer has been started.
The length of one boarding pass or ticket can be (7+⅜) inches or 8 inches. Some boarding passes and tickets have marginal portions called stubs in addition to the bodies of the boarding passes, and there are also two types of printing patterns depending on the length of one boarding pass or ticket.
There are the following two functions of printers required to realize the above-mentioned practical operation.
Function of cutting a sheet depending on the length of one boarding pass (ticket) from a set of medium
Function of automatically selecting the appropriate printing pattern for the length of one set boarding pass (ticket)
To realize the above-mentioned two functions, a sensor for detecting a notched portion as a joint between a stub and a ticket or between tickets is currently mounted as a mechanical configuration, thereby causing a cost increase.
On the other hand, the printer specifically for printing a baggage tag is not loaded with the sensor for detecting a notched portion as a joint between a stub and a ticket or between tickets. Therefore, when the device is set (software switch etc.), one boarding pass (ticket) length is user set or host-instruction set, and the subsequent processes are performed on the basis of the set one boarding pass (ticket) length.
However, since the one boarding pass (ticket) length in the set medium is not automatically recognized, for example, the following problem occurs.
That is, there is the problem that characters etc. cannot be printed in the right positions by an erroneous operation of, for example, performing specification for a boarding pass having no stub on a boarding pass having a stub.
As similar techniques, for example, the patent document 1 discloses a print system for automatically detecting the length of a fed sheet, and performing a printing operation.
In addition, the patent document 2 discloses a printer system for reading any number of documents processed in financial institutions by an image reader, and determining whether or not the read data can be printed on a printer.    [Patent Document 1] Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 9-191731 “Print System for Automatically Detecting Sheet Length and its Control Method”    [Patent Document 2] Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2002-36654 “Printer System”